Monroe Gallery of Photography specializes in classic black and white photography with an emphasis on humanist and photojournalist imagery. The gallery features work by more than 60 renowned photographers and also represents a select group of contemporary and emerging photographers.
Visitors to the spacious gallery and our website http://www.monroegallery.com are invited to view some of the best photography the 20th and 21st century have to offer.
— Sidney and Michelle Monroe

Monroe Gallery of Photography Home Page

Sunday, December 30, 2012

As we all approach the new year 2013, a very sincere thank you to our esteemed photographers, clients, friends, and colleagues. We hope to see you in the gallery during 2013, and at the following photography fairs:

"As Ashley Gilbertson crept up the dark staircase of a minaret in Fallujah, he hovered closely behind advance troops of the United States Marines. Stepping around and over the rubble created by an earlier shelling of the mosque, Gilbertson could hardly see the two soldiers in lead.

Moments before starting their climb, Gilbertson argued to be the first person in the room. He wanted to take first shot at the insurgent who used this holy perch to prey on advancing U.S. forces. However, Lance Corporal William Miller and his partner, Lance Corporal Christian Dominguez, would not back down, and they took the lead that November afternoon. As Gilbertson took to the stairs, his partner Dexter Filkins mounted the steps behind him.

Guns at the ready, the convoy had just crested the first flight of crumbling stairs when gunfire erupted. Gilbertson was pushed backwards, tumbling down the steps. His face felt wet.

It was the blood of Lance Corporal Miller.

As the scene became chaotic, Gilbertson's immediate reaction was to shoot back.

Which one to choose for publication? A San Marcos cowboy holding a saddle with his canine friend Buddy next to him? A roadside descanso in Mora? Quaking aspen in Red River? Chile fields near Hatch?

I reviewed and re-reviewed the many wondrous black-and-white images of Santa Fe photographer Craig Varjabedian in his new book “Landscape Dreams” before deciding on the accompanying one you see.

I was taken by the tilt and the architecture of the “Welcome to New Mexico, Chama, New Mexico” sign. How 1950s New Mexico it was. I was also enraptured by the shimmering cool leaves, the curving vale, the stand of trees in the middle ground, the upward slope of the hill to the sky.

As the first full-page photograph in the book, it welcomes the reader to a journey – a journey into Varjabedian’s work – into a thoughtful essay on the Land of Enchantment, into an explanation of the photographer’s themes and artistic philosophy and into the how and why of his own coming to New Mexico.

I asked Varjabedian about the “Welcome to New Mexico” photograph.

“The sign is a kind of metaphor for New Mexico,” Varjabedian said. “As real and truthful as it looks, it is not really truthful. Ultimately what I am trying to say is that I’ve been calling this book my love letter to New Mexico. Whatever tools, tricks I can use as a photographer, I use. The sign was shot up. There were holes in it.”

The fact that the sign is a bit off-kilter, Varjabedian commented, says that there’s something “wonderfully different” about New Mexico.

He took the photograph in 2010. Since then, he said, the state Highway Department has replaced the sign with one that is more vertical.

“It’s a new sign and it doesn’t have the quality of its older relative,” he said.

Craig Varjabedian discusses “Landscape Dreams” at 1:30 today at the Albuquerque Museum, 2000 Mountain NW. In addition, Jeanetta Calhoun Mish and Jennifer Simpson read from essays in the book. Rebekkah Varjabedian, the photographer’s daughter, introduces her short film “Landscape Dreams.” UNM Press director John Byram talks about the press’ collaboration with Varjabedian and the importance of physical books.

To Varjabedian, the sign signifies something more.

“There’s something magical, enchanted and turned a little different about this place, which brings it its charm … and delights me to want to photograph it. I’m struck by those things that are turned a little bit differently, whether a sign or some historical fact,” he said.”

On the facing page of the “Welcome” sign is part of historian Hampton Sides’ foreword. In it, Sides touches on New Mexico’s road to statehood. The state “worked its way into the national consciousness,” he wrote, “and, as it nearly always does, won people over.” It was a reference to a welcoming act on Jan. 6, 1912 – membership into the Union as the 47th state.

Varjabedian’s public love letter was published in the same year as the New Mexico Centennial.

An exhibit of images from the book is up through Dec. 31 at William Talbot Fine Art, 129 W. San Francisco St., Santa Fe.

David Steinberg is the Journal’s Books editor and an Arts writer.

This is the cover of the book “Landscape Dreams: A New Mexico Portrait” (courtesy of unm press website)

Photographer Steve Schapiro's five decade career of classic photos displayed in new book, ‘Then and Now’

During his five-decade career, photographer Steve Schapiro likes to say he has photographed everything from presidents to poodles. Schapiro has captured the special moments of rock stars, film stars and politicians of the 60's and '70's as well as photos of migrant workers and the Selma March with Martin Luther King. In his new photobook "Then and Now" Schapiro compiles some of his best and most iconic images. The book contains more than 170 photos – some of which have never been published before. He joins “Stating Point” this morning to discuss some of his most iconic photos and his new book.

Schapiro says it has always interested him, “to capture all the different elements that make up our country.” He tells the story behind him capturing an iconic photo of Actor Marlon Brando when he was hired to photograph “The Godfather.” Schapiro says, “Brando let me photograph his makeup session… and in the middle of it he just gave me this wonderful look which luckily I caught.” Reminiscing on a picture he took of Actor Dustin Hoffman leaping in a narrow hallway he says, “[Dustin] is a delight. He is a delight on and off camera. He just has such spirit and you know such wonderful feeling and humor all the time…This was just a moment after they had been feeling and it just was a spontaneous event.”

Schapiro admits that he always wanted to be a “Life Magazine” photographer and “one of the things that interested [him] was the migrant worker situation in America.” He talks about his very first story where he spent four weeks documenting the lives of the migrant workers through his photos and an essay and reflects on one particular photo of a cabin wall where a child once wrote “I love anybody who loves me".

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Mark Shaw: John Looking at his Reflection in Tabletop, Palm Beach 1963

Only two weeks before Kennedy was assassinated, Jacqueline Kennedy wrote a note to Mark Shaw, one of many, thanking him for color photographs of her with her three-year-old, John F. Kennedy Jr.: "They really should be in the National Gallery! I have them propped up in our Sitting Room now, and everyone who comes in says the one of me and John looks like a Caravaggio—and the one of John, reflected in the table, like some wonderful, strange, poetic Matisse. And, when I think of how you just clicked your camera on an ordinary day in that dreary, green Living Room.I just can't thank you enough, they will always be my greatest treasures. Anyone who puts a finger-print on them will have his hand chopped off. "

Friday, December 7, 2012

Well-timed and well crafted in equal measures, The Loving Story is a thoughtful, terrifically intimate account of the case that dismantled this country's anti-miscegenation laws 100 years after the abolition of slavery. The story of Virginia couple Mildred and Richard Loving's efforts to live and love each other freely captures a critical moment in a civil rights movement whose most recent strides—for same-sex marriage—are just a few weeks old. First-time director Nancy Buirski's focus on the constitutional tangles that brought Loving v. Virginia before the Supreme Court in 1967 also complement Lincoln's warm, wonky embrace of the democratic procedural. A wealth of archival footage gives The Loving Story an oddly modern quality. We watch the supremely humble couple (Richard was white; Mildred part black and part Native American) interacting at home, tolerating journalists, conferring with attorneys, and recounting their path to the courtroom: Having been arrested in their home state, the Lovings moved to Washington, D.C. Mildred's distressed letter to Bobby Kennedy set things rolling. Equally compelling is footage of the dauntless young lawyers, Bernard Cohen and Philip Hirschkop, who saw much to be gained in one couple's belief in their rights and even more to be cut away.

This symposium will reflect on how and why we use the term "documentary" to describe photography today. In what ways are artists, scholars, and curators thinking about documentary photography? How are photographers dealing with the evidentiary function of their pictures, as notions of authenticity and truth are being broadly challenged by political conflicts and new media? How do those pictures shape our understanding of contemporary human rights, and their violations, across the globe? Might we also speak of documentary photography as a style unlinked to the medium's perceived social functions? Participants include photographer Nina Berman, Mary Panzer (NYU), and Sharon Sliwinski (University of Western Ontario), with respondent Diane Neumaier (Rutgers).

WE INVITE YOU TO VIEW THE EVENT ON OUR LIVE WEBCAST BEGINNING AT 10:00 AM EST AT THE FOLLOWING LINK: vcenter.njvid.net

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

New York, December 5, 2012-- The threat of imprisonment has become a reality for a record number of journalists in 2012, the Committee to Protect Journalist found in its annual prison census. The report, to be released on December 11, records and analyzes the imprisonment of journalists globally, underlining the ongoing crackdown against critical reporting.

A breakdown of the charges, regions, mediums and the number of freelance journalists imprisoned will be available. CPJ's census, first published in 1990, is a snapshot of those incarcerated at midnight on December 1, 2012. It does not include the many journalists imprisoned and released throughout the year.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Steve Schapiro was born in 1934 in New York. In the beginning he photographed the daily life on the streets of New York. Steve Schapiro made his education at the American photographer W. Eugene Smith. For years, Steve Schapiro photographed socially critical series like drug addicts in East Harlem or the lives of American immigrants. These pictures he sent to the "Life" magazine - until 1961 he received his first commission.

A Life full of legendsSteve Schapiro photographed in the 60ies the Kennedys and followed Robert "Bobby" Kennedy in 1968 during his campaign. He also worked with artis like Barbara Streisand and Maroln Brando. Also Muhammed Ali was one of the persons Steve Schapiro photographed during his career. He evolved a passion for photographing on film sets. His first shots he did on the film set of Martin Scorsese. The pictures he did on the film sets of "Taxi Driver" and "Godfather" are well known and legendary.

Stephen Wilkes is well known internationally for his fine art and commercial photography, and during this evening's presentation he'll be showing and discussing the pictures, themes, and genres that are signatures of his work. Many of his images, at once epic in scale all share a unique human narrative, showcasing his fascination with scale, and reflecting his passion for making 'The Big Picture.'

He'll show his latest fine art series, "Day to Night', where Stephen photographs a scene from the same perspective during a minimum of 10 hours, as he says, "capturing a fluid visual narrative of day into night within a single frame."

Stephen's assignments and projects have taken him around the globe, where his continuing interest in architectural imagery and how rapid industrial growth impacts our world and environment. He'll be showing examples that range from his series on China's transformation from it's rural and natural beauty to teeming cities as an industrial behemoth, to a recent commercial assignment in Mumbai that combined his expertise shooting on location in challenging situations and combining his exciting visualization capturing the essence and energy of a place. He'll also be showing images from his Ellis Island series, and from the Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf oil spill series among others.

Throughout the presentation, be prepared to look at things differently; you will see and hear about the symbiotic relationship between his commercial and fine art work, as Stephen shares how he manages to balance an active commercial and fine art career.

For more than two decades Stephen Wilkes has been widely recognized for his fine art and commercial photography. His photographs have been exhibited in both galleries and museums, and featured in the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Time, Sports Illustrated, London Sunday Times, and Travel + Leisure.

In 2000, Epson America commissioned him to create a millennial portrait of the United States, a 52-day odyssey that resulted in a critically acclaimed exhibition that traveled to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

In 1999 he completed a personal project photographing the south side of Ellis Island: the ruined landscape of the infectious disease and psychiatric hospital wings, where children and adults alike were detained before they could enter America. Through his photographs and video work, Stephen has inspired and helped secure $6 million in funding towards the restoration for the south side of the island.

Educated at Syracuse University's S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, his awards and honors include the Alfred Eisenstaedt Award for Magazine Photography, Photographer of the Year from Adweek Magazine, Fine Art Photographer of the Year 2004 Lucie Award, and the Epson Creativity Award.
Stephen's work is in the permanent collection of the International Museum of Photography in the George Eastman House, Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Dow Jones Collection, Griffin Museum of Photography, Jewish Museum of New York, Library of Congress and numerous private collections.

Monday, November 26, 2012

“I still haven’t done my best photograph, in my mind, at this point. I’m still looking for a photograph which I really feel has lasting quality,” insisted Schapiro, sitting down for a chat at Berlin’s CWC Gallery, the city’s newest outpost of Camera Work. Surrounded by glass-framed photos from his long and varied career — a Factory party with Edie, Andy and the gang, Muhammad Ali shirtless and playing Monopoly, Barbra Streisand in perfect profile — he paged through his latest book “Then and Now,” published by Hatje Cantz.

The book, which recently launched in Germany and is scheduled for a Friday release in the U.S., includes many never-before-seen images from Schapiro’s archives of journalistic work, celebrity portraits and movie-set shoots, as well as some of his recent forays into digital photography. The 50 years’ worth of pictures reveal incredible access and intimate insights.

As a freelance photojournalist in the Sixties, Shapiro worked for the magazines Life and Look, and later shot the first cover for People. His photos hang in the halls of the Smithsonian and Atlanta’s High Museum of Art and feature in countless private collections and galleries, as well as several books. Many of his pictures are powered by that undefinable, invaluable quality that propels so many notables to the top — charisma. Schapiro says it’s not always evident at first glance, citing a shoot with a famous top model as an example.

“We were going to photograph her, and we’re in the Grand Canyon, and we’re driving to it. And she’s, like, incredibly famous. And I’m looking in the [rearview] mirror and I’m saying, ‘This is isn’t going to work at all,’” he says, recalling a shoot with Christie Brinkley. “And the moment we started shooting, it was perfect. So you can’t always tell.”

What is evident is that his images also have a cinematic quality, so he was a natural to take behind-the-scenes portraits on some of the great films, including “Taxi Driver,” “Midnight Cowboy” and “The Godfather.” But whether on the streets or film shoots, he says he wasn’t always aware of when he had a hit in his lens, or that his mountains of daily work would end up as collectibles.

“Basically, this little guy took all these pictures, and now I have them. This little guy was a workaholic, which was great. Because he left me all this stuff,” laughs Schapiro.

The once brightly colored but now fading orange band on Schapiro’s wrist proves that the little guy is still working hard. It’s from the Beloved sacred art and music festival in Oregon, one of the venues he’s visited for his current book project called “Bliss.” Together with his son, who is keenly spiritual, Schapiro is making the rounds of such events internationally, camping in tents and snapping participants reveling in the music and community, for the work in progress. This veteran of several youthquakes says there’s something missing in the current generation of seekers compared with those of the Sixties. “You were very much aware of what was happening in the world. And I would say that in terms of this grouping, there’s less interest in the outside world entirely,” he muses, noting a lack of interest in politics as well.

For a man known for his poignant photos of Dr. King and Robert F. Kennedy, politics are still important, but politicians of today hold little appeal, nor do contemporary celebrities whose schedules and speech are highly controlled by publicists, Schapiro says. Once, he spent days or even weeks with his subjects, building relationships that developed into great photos. Now, he says, “if it’s not a cover, you probably spend two hours, and people have to keep changing their clothes every 15 minutes so that it looks in print as if you’ve been with them a long period of time. And you have usually a handler sitting there saying, ‘Oh no, wait a minute, I have to fix your hair — no you can’t put a cigarette — no cigarettes,’” he says, dropping his voice into an intent whisper to imitate the commentary of an intent p.r. agent.

Turning to review the famous faces he’s captured and the moments he’s frozen forever in black and white, he says he can’t really explain what makes a photograph have lasting power. It could be an emotional quality or an intuitive feeling or immaculate design. “Certain pictures get better with time.”

A staggering 700,000 people are released from prison in the United States each year. When formerly incarcerated persons reenter society they often face discrimination when applying for employment, housing and higher education. Some formerly incarcerated people and are even denied the right to vote. What are the struggles? What are the stories? Who are these people? And how are they helping each other to succeed and thrive?

Friday, November 23, 2012

Jackie, John and the whole gang bring some classic New England Americana to the desert in an exhibit of rare photographs by Mark Shaw. Up until his death in 1969, Shaw was the Kennedy family’s private photographer, which gave him unprecedented access to intimate and candid moments.

Before landing his gig with the first family, Shaw worked as a fashion photographer for high-profile magazines, photographing such crown jewels of the 1950s as Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and Pablo Picasso. When LIFE magazine assigned him to cover JFK’s election bid in 1959, Shaw’s personal friendship with the Kennedys began, and voilà!—a photography goldmine.

And just in time for election season (err… well, sort of), Shaw’s photographs of the family shy away from typical presidential-candidate fodder such as panoramas of big crowds or fancy desks littered with briefings.

Instead, his images capture the unpredictable side—one you wouldn’t necessarily associate with a subject as bold as the Kennedys. One shot even shows a lonely Jackie perusing the aisles of a grocery store.

The photos are humanizing, debunking the mythos so often associated with the New Englanders, and they pack an emotional weight that could move even the most polarized of the politically polarized. Shaw’s photos take us away from the normal hubbub of Kennedy’s presidency—I can’t think of a better post-election detox than that.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

"Those who joined the Selma March could hold the flag high. It was a long symbolic walk and the possibility of violence was always there. Dr. King, the symbol of the non-violent revolution seemed to scour the crowds with a portent of what might follow."

Just the list of people Steve Schapiro has photographed during his career reads like a Who’s Who of the most influential politicians, celebrities and newsmakers in American history over the last five decades. But that Schapiro captured his subjects during their pivotal and seminal moments—Robert F. Kennedy during his 1968 presidential campaign; Marlon Brando on the set of The Godfather; Andy Warhol and muse Edie Sedgwick in The Factory, among others—lends his photographs an added significance. They aren’t just remarkable portraits of remarkable people, but snapshots into our country’s historical and cultural milestones.

Schapiro’s output over his more than 50-year career has been prolific, and many people have probably seen one of his photographs whether they realize it or not. But his new book, Then and Now, gives readers a look at Schapiro’s lesser-known work; the majority of pictures has never been published. “There were so many pictures that I loved but didn’t fit with the format of my previous books, so this was a chance to bring forth that work,” he says. The book is comprised of single images shown over a spread, as well as spreads of disparate images that share a composition or theme—one such example has a portrait of Martin Scorcese holding a gun and grapes on the left page, and a portrat of Mia Farrow holding a baby on the right. “I wanted to make a book that was interesting on every page,” says Schapiro. “That evolved into the idea of working with double pages where one picture worked with another.”

Schapiro first took an interest to photography at 9 while at summer camp. He fell in love with “the magic of photography” in the dark room, where he became fascinated by how pictures came to life after being dipped in various formulas. But it wasn’t until he discovered Henri Cartier-Bresson’s The Decisive Moment, as a teenager, that his interest really took hold. He began trying to capture his own decisive moments on the streets of New York City, before going to study the formal aspects of photography under W. Eugene Smith.

In 1961, amid the height of the Civil Rights movement, Schapiro started working as a freelance photographer for publications such as LIFE, Rolling Stone, TIME and Newsweek. Over the next 10 years, which Schapiro calls “the golden age of photojournalism,” he would cover the decade’s most significant events, including Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1963 march in Selma, and later, King’s abandoned motel room after this assassination, as well as the “Summer of Love” in Haight-Asbury and Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign. “It was an incredible time to be a photojournalist because there was more of an emotional flow—an ability to do more emotional pictures that captured the spirit of a person,” says Schapiro of the period. “I was able to spend a lot of time with people—Bobby Kennedy went to South America for four weeks and I got to go with him. When I got really sick there, Ethel Kennedy brought me Bobby’s pajamas to wear. Bobby was someone who I became friends with, but everyone who worked with him loved him.”

Despite his success as a photographer, Schapiro maintains that he hasn’t taken his most important picture yet—and doesn’t have any idea what it might be. In the meantime, there’s one subject who continues to elude him: “President Barack Obama. I would love to photograph him.”

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Santa
Fe--Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar, is pleased to announce a
major exhibition of photographs by Mark Shaw, concurrent with the publication of
the new book "The Kennedys". The exhibition opens with a
public reception on Friday, November 23, from 5 - 7 PM. The exhibition of vintage and contemporary editions will
continue through January 27, 2013.

Published by
Reel Art Press, this stunning new publication is the definitive collection of
Mark Shaw’s renowned photographs of the Kennedys. Most of the photographs
featured in the book and exhibition have never been seen before. Shaw first
photographed the Kennedys in 1959 for Life magazine. He subsequently developed a
close friendship with the family that gave him extraordinary and informal access
to their inner circle. During the following four years, Shaw captured them at
their most relaxed: in Nantucket, Hyannis Port, Jacqueline's family home in
Merrywood, Virginia and on The Amalfi Coast with the Agnellis. On the campaign
trail in West Virginia, pre-White House at their first proper family home in
Georgetown and at the star-studded inauguration gala. He became the Kennedys’
unofficial family photographer and his captivating shots capture some of their
most intimate and candid moments. Among
the most memorable photographs must be the image that was JFK's personal
favorite; the photograph he told his family and friends he liked best.
Perhaps somewhat poignantly, as the 50th anniversary of the assassination
approaches, it is the image of Kennedy walking alone in the sand dunes at
Hyannis Port which resonates, alongside a later iconic and moving image of the
rider-less horse and the fallen leader’s reversed riding boots.

Mark Shaw
lived from 1922-1969. As a photographer he is perhaps best known for his images
of Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy, however he was also a leading fashion
photographer, Mark Shaw worked for Harper's Bazaar, Mademoiselle, and a host of
other fashion magazines. He started working for LIFE magazine in 1952 and in 16
years shot 27 covers and almost 100 stories. Throughout the 1950's and 1960s'
Mark Shaw shot the European fashion collections for LIFE, and was one of the
first photographers to shoot fashion on the runways and "backstage" at the
couture shows. Decades after his death, Mark Shaw’s photographs continue to be
published regularly in books and magazines.

In his later
years Mark Shaw also began filming commercials for television. He was the winner
of many awards from the American TV commercial Festival for his work in
commercials and from the Art Director's club for his earlier still work. Mark
Shaw's Vanity Fair Lingerie and Chase Manhattan Bank's "Nest Egg" campaign are
print advertising classics. Mark Shaw worked as a top print advertising
photographer until his untimely death in 1969 at the age of 47. After his death,
most of his work was hastily put into storage. All but a small number of
photographs remained unseen for almost 30 years. In 1999, his only child, David
Shaw, and David's wife, Juliet Cuming, moved the collection to Vermont, where
they took on took on the job of creating the Mark Shaw Photographic Archive. In
storage for almost 40 years, Mark Shaw's work is finally being unearthed,
archived and made available for this exhibition.

Copies of the new book Mark Shaw: The Kennedys are available from the gallery $75

Monroe Gallery of Photography was
founded by Sidney S. Monroe and
Michelle A. Monroe. Building on more than four decades of collective experience,
the gallery specializes in classic black & white photography with an
emphasis on humanist and photojournalist imagery. The gallery also represents a
select group of contemporary and emerging photographers. Monroe Gallery was the recipient of the 2010
Alfred Eisenstaedt Award for Excellence in Photojournalism.

Gallery
hours are 10 to 6 Monday through Saturday, 11 to 5 Sunday. Admission is free.
For further information, please call: 505.992.0800; or email.info@monroegallery.com